There was something about this school that always kept it off the list for my kids. What was it? Money? Not progressive enough?
Off to check out Wheaton’s curriculum changes…
@lisabees re: Knox merit, S21 does have a high GPA (though weighted isn’t super high since his rigor isn’t incredible).
re: Wheaton - any chance you could be confusing Wheaton IL and Wheaton MA in terms of the conservatism? I just had a long conversation via email with a parent I found on these boards who has a son at Wheaton. He described it as progressive and inclusive, and that is the sense I’ve gotten from all of my research. I can put you in touch with him if you want to ask more questions (or I can share more with you via pm if you want).
I’d recommend seeing if they have any more virtual open houses happening. The ones they did were good (I’m sure they have recordings of them if they don’t have more scheduled). The last session we did with them included the provost - my husband, a Brown alum, was commenting to me during the session that Wheaton’s new curriculum seemed to be a very open curriculum like Brown’s but with some more supports built in - minutes later, he discovered that the provost went to Brown. https://wheatoncollege.edu/academics/office-of-the-provost/provost/ Coincidence? 
This sums up their new curriculum: https://wheatoncollege.edu/academics/filene-center-for-academic-advising-and-career-services/academic-advising/academic-planning-guide/wheaton-curriculum/additional-opportunities-under-the-compass-curriculum/
What we love is the combination of
- the very open curriculum with
- the different types of honors recognitions available - something to fit a variety of students https://wheatoncollege.edu/academics/filene-center-for-academic-advising-and-career-services/academic-advising/academic-planning-guide/wheaton-curriculum/additional-opportunities-under-the-compass-curriculum/honors-and-scholars-programs/ and
- the structured mentored advising program - https://wheatoncollege.edu/academics/filene-center-for-academic-advising-and-career-services/academic-advising/academic-planning-guide/wheaton-curriculum/mentored-academic-pathway/
We like the proximity to Providence, Boston, and the Cape/islands (S21 has spent some time on Nantucket and is very interested in the kinds of outdoorsy internships he can get in that area) though we recognize that the town of Norton itself is small/quiet.
According to 2021 Princeton Review, 0 fraternities and sororities. My 2020 Fiske Guide says the same.
@eb23282 may be able to chime in re impressions of Wheaton, too.
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Could be money - waiting to see on that one! Other things that potentially turn some folks off - small school (though you have smaller ones on the list so that’s probably not it), very small town (for certain Beloit, Knox, and Kalamazoo have more restaurants, coffee shops etc. in walking distance), 60/40 F/M gender split (doesn’t phase S21 but as it’s not closer to 50/50, I can see this impacting desirability for some people), no football (a plus as far as S21 is concerned but clearly not for everybody).
@lisabees I have toured Lawrence 3 times:) I find it to be a lovely campus, nice surrounding town and happy students. My S17 was set to go but got in to his reach school - he went there instead. I let him make the decision but thought Lawrence was a much better fit.
The academics at Lawrence are excellent and we have some friends with students who have graduated and loved their 4 years there and have gotten great jobs after graduation.
It has an interesting mix of students - artsy, sporty, preppy. The faculty we met were truly invested in the students. They have some interesting classes and majors. Love the music conservatory piece as well although none of my kids are musical. Tried to get my D 21 to apply but she refuses anything in Midwest.
Wow! So much activity since yesterday. And so much good news! Sounds like lots of people have options.
@whyboydanny That is so great to hear about your kid at DePaul. We haven’t visited, just had a good virtual open house. I’ll tell my son.
@nichols51 We visited Dickinson before the pandemic and it’s a really lovely campus and a super cute town. It would definitely be more expensive for us as son would not qualify for much merit. There was a good feel on campus, we enjoyed talking with a few faculty members but in the end the fact that it is a bit of a reach and kid was more or less indifferent kept it off the list.
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I think it was money! According to their website, they used to require the Profile and no longer do. However, they still want detailed info about the non-custodial. So, probably a no-go for us.
And yowza! Your Wheaton info/resources are amazing. Thank you. 
Any word on an additional Kalamazoo interview?
Oooooh - Thank you! You’ve confirmed the feeling I get about the school. And they seem financially stable which is certainly a consideration these days.
There are a couple of schools I’m just dying to have a kid attend. Wooster and Knox are two of them (I’ve visited Wooster 5 times). But I’m on my last kid, so I’m not sure how it’s gonna happen! 
Does anyone have experience with Randolph-Macon? I toured with D19 and loved it. It’s on the list for S, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to visit other than virtually.
Ahhh, that makes sense about the financial aid issues in your situation at Wheaton.
S21 emailed the Kzoo rep yesterday about the interview (I helped him word it so he could strike the right balance between willingness to talk and a bit of a reminder that they’d already done so). He heard back that he does need to do another zoom call. She said her software had been wrong, that with his reminder she found her notes from their talk, that she will now read his application in the next few days, and that he’ll hopefully hear from her by next Wednesday. I didn’t think he’d be hearing until Dec 20th, so this is a surprise.
Parent of recent LAC grad who spent a lot of time learning about a number of the schools being talked about here, so if it’s okay, I’ll share my thoughts.
Kzoo – it is an intimate, cozy school and campus, on a few blocks tucked between a residential neighborhood on one side, Western Michigan on the other, and an urbanish stretch of town. Lovely red brick buildings mostly, a single central dining hall which is really charming, fireplaces and tall, chapel-like windows. A gorgeous, modern building which is the center for peace studies and the like, we hung out there while waiting for our student to finish meetings etc. I’d describe the student body as similar to Grinnell, Knox and Lawrence - everything from Polo ts to blue hair and the occasional man in a skirt (though with Harry Styles on Vogue, that may become even more common). My kid was interested in the open curriculum, no greek life, and the trimester system – as a fall athlete, he was intrigued by the possibility of having almost 1/2 his season before classes began. It fell down the list, mostly because it felt smaller and too close for comfort – we are in Indiana and going to Michigan, in a school with a strong Michigan contingent, just didn’t feel like the “going off to college” experience he wanted. He also didn’t love the fact that a lot of students live off campus (in the adjoining residential neighborhood) after sophomore year, again, not the kind of college experience he wanted.
Lawrence – my kid said it had the best food of any of the 15 or so midwest/east coast LACs he visited. Single dining hall in the student union, a new/renovated building with dramatic windows overlooking the river. Student mix of everything from preppy to men in skirts, as with Kzoo, Knox and Grinnell. Friendly vibe. Greek life, but like Knox and Beloit, is “non-traditional” – the greek life members he met were hardly the stereotypical frat boys, more like dungeons and dragons kids. Loved the Con and music-rich environment, as he was exploring how much he might continue his instrument. Didn’t love that Varsity athletic facilities were across the river and so either a long walk or a short drive. Faded athletic facilities and student work out space, though that may be updated since he visited.
Good luck to all your students, I wish them great success!
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@Midwestmomofboys continues to come through with helpful descriptions and factors to consider. Thank you!
And I mistakenly typed above that S21 does need to do another interview when my post should have said he does not.
Ah - he does NOT need the interview. Whew. And exciting news about hearing next week!
And wow. You got an email response within the same day?! Still no response here from the Knox admissions rep or Knox’s decision.
@Midwestmomofboys Agree with @nichols51 - you’re an amazing source of support and information. Thank you for always reaching out. Lawrence sounds perfect.
@eb23282 No experience with Randolph-Macon. Hopefully someone will chime in.
@eb23282 what other schools is your S considering, for comparison sake? I don’t have experience with Randolph Macon in terms of having a kid there, but S19 was being recruited by them for his sport when he was applying to college, so we did a campus visit.
Like the few LACs we looked at, I was impressed by the close knit community. My son really liked the coach, and the professors we met during the visit seemed to be pretty involved with the campus community. There did not seem much to do there though, and Greek life seemed to be big part of social life. Unfortunately we did not get a good sense of a typical day on campus since our visit was during tail end of finals week, and surprisingly, it happened to be snowing that day so not many kids around. In the end, my son was looking for more of a mid-size campus and opted to go elsewhere.
Oh the other thing I noticed is that it seems to draw a lot of kids from southern VA and NC and had more of a rural vibe than what S19 was interested in. I could be way off there, that was just my impression. For comparison sake, we also visited Hobart in western NY, and while also rural, the campus vibe came off as much more preppy and sporty.
@lisabees ugh…any chance it’s worth reaching out to the general admissions email at Knox (getting an admin in the dept to help you out since you’re not hearing back from the assigned rep)?
I’m trying to let it go. Let’s see if I can.
@4kids4us He’s interested in small schools in the PA/MD/VA area. Like I said, I visited with D19 and really liked it. Definitely on the smaller side - i.e. 1,500 seems much smaller than 1,900, but there’s a lot to be said for those close-knit communities. I loved their career services which is also highly ranked. And while there’s not much on campus, it’s only 15 minutes from Richmond and the Amtrak line is right across from campus too.
He looked at Hobart but ultimately felt it was too rich/white/preppy/NE prep school for his liking. Plus it’s cold and he’s not a big fan of wearing coats - lol.
This is better logic than that of my S21 who is intentionally applying to pretty much all cold places even though he also does not particularly like to wear a coat. ?
Update: son accepted to Ball State w/$12k merit.
That makes going there as an OoS student cheaper than staying in-state (NJ).
@eb23282 LOL, my son felt the same way about Hobart being too rich, white, preppy for him so we had to cross that one off despite generous merit. The cold, though, does not bother him. The day we visited it was 13 degrees and had snowed several inches while we were driving there.
Forgive me in case you have already mentioned these but have you looked at McDaniel and St. Mary’s College? Also, Washington College in Chestertown, but expensive.
McDaniel was also test optional and awarded merit to TO kids (not sure if your son has scores) even before COVID. S19 has a friend there now and really likes it.
I don’t have much. My son and I noted it as a possibility early in his search and self-toured it when we were in the area looking at Richmond and DC schools. It reminded us of Campbell University in NC, but has about half the enrollment.
Both are nice rural schools in relatively close proximity to larger cities. But when you’re on campus, you feel a million miles away and very rural. Not a bad thing, but that’s the feel. Very Mayberry in a pleasant way. Son liked that it’s 20 minutes from Richmond and about 115 minutes from DC. We were at both schools in the summer the campuses were empty, so it was hard to get a feel for the student body.
He held off on applying, waiting to see how the process would work out, and he ended up not applying. I could see RM as a good fit for a lot of kids, but I recommend visiting before enrolling. For son, he was concerned RM was a a little too small for what he wanted.
I know lawyers who did their undergrad at RM and Campbell. Both said that atmosphere of a low-key, out-of-the-way, tight-knit schools was exactly what they needed at the time, because they were young men who hadn’t yet found their full stride academically.
Wish I had more.
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